Mourinho lashes out at World Cup schedule, pitches

Yahoo’s Global Football Ambassador Jose Mourinho has criticised World Cup organisers for providing an unbalanced schedule and sub-standard pitches.

Mourinho’s Portuguese compatriots play a must-win game against Ghana on Thursday, but have more than a day less to prepare than their Group G rivals. The USA face the same situation against Germany.

The Chelsea manager dismissed suggestions of FIFA favouritism, but blamed “bad organisation” for failing to offer a level playing field.

He said: “That situation of 24 hours more from one team to another team that have to play the third match now, like is the case of our group with Portugal and the U.S., is FIFA trying to protect Germany and Ghana, and not Portugal and U.S?

"I don't think so. I think it's just bad organization. So, I prefer to go in that direction."

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Mourinho also criticised the "unacceptable" quality of the pitches in Brazil.

The surface at Manaus, which has hosted three games including England v Italy and USA v Portugal, had to be painted green to cover up bare patches from TV viewers.

But Mourinho claimed pitches around the country were not up to scratch.

"When I look to the matches, there is one that is clear in my eyes, which is the bad quality of the pitch," he said.

"Almost every pitch has not the best qualities to play high quality football. And for me, in this moment, I am not a coach involved in the tournament. I'm just somebody that is in front of the screen trying to enjoy the best football, is something that I don't think is acceptable at that level. The pitches are not the best."